Penn State Hockey: Skoff Signs Deal With Reading Royals

It didn't take long for at least one former Nittany Lion to find a home at the next level of their hockey career as former Penn State goalie Matthew Skoff has joined the Reading Royals of the ECHL, the club announced on Monday, on an Amateur Tryout agreement (ATO).

Skoff, who holds every career record by a Penn State goaltender, joins the Royals effective immediately. The Royals are the ECHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) and Lehigh Valley Phantoms (AHL).

Skoff compiled Penn State career records in games played by a goalie (77), games started (73), minutes played (4420:36), victories (32), win percentage (.500), saves (2,114), shutouts (3), goals-against average (2.88) and save percentage (.909).

This past season, Skoff went 8-5-3 with a 3.26 GAA and a .902 save percentage. Skoff won at least seven games in each of his four seasons in Hockey Valley and posted a winning record in three of the four years.

Notable in his tenure at Penn State was starting the program’s first game as a Division I team on Oct. 12, 2012 vs. AIC. Skoff also recorded the program’s first Big Ten win, and only Big Ten shutout, a 4-0 victory over No. 10 Michigan on Feb. 8, 2014.

Skoff earned Big Ten Stars of the Week on three occasions and was named the team’s most valuable player during the 2013-14 season where he started the final nine games of the season and recorded 84 saves in the Big Ten Tournament for the No. 6 seed that made the Big Ten Semifinals. Included in that 84-save tournament was a school-record 52-save performance that came during a double-OT win over Michigan that lasted nearly 93 minutes of ice time.